Reports of jury verdicts and settlements can be of great value to those attempting to evaluate cases. Reports appear in a number of resources, described below. Keep in mind that publishers of these resources rely on attorneys to submit information on the outcomes of their cases; there is no comprehensive resource. While these reports may also be useful for finding expert witnesses or determining the outcome of unpublished cases, this guide describes how library resources can be used to locate award and settlement amounts. Please ask a librarian if you have any questions.
CALIFORNIA SPECIFIC RESOURCES
Westlaw
The library's Westlaw subscription makes available a number of databases of verdict awards and settlements. To locate reports from California cases, from Westlaw's Directory click on U.S. State Materials, then California, then on Jury Instructions, Jury Verdicts & Judgments. To locate reports from other jurisdictions, from Westlaw's Directory click on Litigation, then Jury Verdicts, Settlements & Judgments.
Trials Digest KFC57 A75T7
Reports awards and settlements from California cases. Published monthly, except for a combined January/February issue. Use the indexes to locate reports by type of case or type of injury. Check the annual indexes as well as the index in each issue more recent than the last annual index. Make sure to read the information on using the indexes in the first page of the annual index. Trials Digest is also available through the library's Westlaw subscription. The database identifier is CA-JV.
VerdictSearch (formerly Jury Verdicts Weekly) KFC57 J88
Reports awards and settlements from California cases. Published weekly except for the first weeks of July and September and the last weeks of November and December. Check the semiannual indexes as well as the index in each issue more recent than the last semiannual index.
O'Brien's Evaluator KFC57 E93
Reports awards and settlements from Southern California. Published annually. Start with the Factual and Injuries indexes located under the Contents tab. These indexes will direct you to lists of case reports involving the type of case or injury of interest and the pages on which they can be found.
Daily Journal Extra
This weekly insert in the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journals includes a substantial number of reports of awards and settlements from California. Check the index in each issue. Daily Extras can be found at KFC57 in the shelves below Trials Digest.
NATIONAL LEVEL RESOURCES
Personal Injury Valuation Handbooks KFC310 J87
In addition to providing a system for determining an injury's value and analysis of trends in jury verdicts awards, this set reports verdict awards for personal injury cases from around the country. Use the index in volume 1 to determine where cases involving the injury type of interest are found.
Stein on Personal Injury Damages KF446 F7
Volumes four and five of this set include reports of awards in personal injury cases from around the country. Reports are organized by injury type. There is an occupational injury index and a punitive damages index to the reports in volume five.
VerdictSearch Employment Law KF3302 V47
Reports awards and settlements from cases involving employment related causes of action such as wrongful termination, breach of contract, and age discrimination. Scan the tables of contents and indexes of each issue to find reports of interest.
Westlaw
The library's Westlaw subscription makes available a number of databases of verdict awards and settlements. To locate reports from California cases, from Westlaw's Directory click on U.S. State Materials, then California, then on Jury Instructions, Jury Verdicts & Judgments. To locate reports from other jurisdictions, from Westlaw's Directory click on Litigation, then Jury Verdicts, Settlements & Judgments.
FREE ONLINE RESOURCES
MoreLaw.com www.morelaw.com
Search the case database by selecting a jurisdiction (a particular state or all states) and a field to search (try searching the case description). The case database includes not only settlements and verdicts, but also judicial opinions, so be prepared to sort through some false hits.
Search Engines
Try a search for "jury verdict" "California" and other keywords describing the type of case or injury of interest in Google or your favorite search engine. You may be able to locate some reports in the free content of fee based websites, in news stories, or on the websites of law firms advertising recent successes.
For further information on how to locate awards and settlements, including information on fee based resources try the following:
The University of Minnesota Law Library's guide "Researching Jury Verdicts & Awards"
http://local.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/verdicts1.html
"Putting a Price on It: Researching Jury Verdicts and Settlements"
http://www.llrx.com/columns/reference18.htm
Zimmerman's Research Guide "Verdicts and Settlements"
http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman/disp.aspx?z=2093
"Bringing Settlements out of the Shadows", Bianca Fromm, 48 UCLA Law Review 663
updated 3/06 rmm